My first day of clinicals funny moment...

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today was my first day of clinicals. It was supposed to be orientation but we wound up having access to some patients to do vitals on. I go into my very first patient ever's room. She is contact precautions, so all the equipment for vital signs is in her room, dedicated for her use, including the tempu dot single use thermometer. I take her temperature and couldn't get it to register anything which I thought was odd, but just kind of went along and did her blood pressure and respiratory sounds etc. I went to chart her v.s., realized I had never resolved the temperature mystery, went in to take it again.

It dawns on me that the tempu dot single use thermometer is a single use ORAL thermometer. I had held it against her forehead the first time I tried to use it. seriously, who DOES that!

In my defense, it looked very similar to the fever strip type thermometer I occasionally use to take my kids temps, I think I had it in my mind that, well, I don't know what the heck I was thinking!

Luckily the patient didn't notice and no one else was in the room with me! Needless to say I took her temp the correct way and recorded her vitals.

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Specializes in Cardiac Nursing.

I can totally relate! Also, not as bad as my first day and me calling my clinical instructor in to listen to my patient's lungs because I thought I heard something adventitious. (I was hearing her bowel sounds because I was a bit low on her back.) :)

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My first day was today and talk about a trial by fire. I immediately had to perform peri care as soon as I walked in the patient room. What an introduction.

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Specializes in CNA.
It dawns on me that the tempu dot single use thermometer is a single use ORAL thermometer. I had held it against her forehead the first time I tried to use it. seriously, who DOES that!

Good job. It gets easier. And harder.

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